Washington, 5 February 1997 (RFE/RL) - A spokeswoman for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the IMF welcomes the agreement among the political parties in Bulgaria to hold early elections.

The spokeswoman says fund officials hope "that conditions will soon permit resumption of work on a financial program to stabilize the economy."

The IMF had approved a stand-by loan of around $582 million for Bulgaria last July, but Sofia was unable to draw even the second $116 million tranche in September because the country's economic situation had deteriorated so badly.

The fund has told Bulgaria that it should adopt a currency board form of central bank as a first step toward stabilizing the lev.